Centre clears Rs 5,700-cr hydro project to be set up in Nepal

The government today approved a 900 MW hydro power project to be set up in Sankhuwasabha district of Nepal at a cost of Rs 5,723.72 crore.
The decision to approve the Arun-III project was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here today.
"The Cabinet today approved setting up of Arun-III project at an estimated cost of Rs 5,723.72 crore. The project is expected to achieve financial closure by September this year. The projected will be implemented within five years," Power Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters at a briefing here.

The project is being implemented by a 100 per cent subsidiary of state-run SJVN Ltd.
SJVN Ltd is joint venture between Central and Himachal Pradesh governments with shareholding of 64.46 per cent and 25.51 per cent, respectively.
"Union Cabinet has approved the project and its investment. It was awaited. The project is being implemented by 100 per cent subsidiary of SJVN Ltd," SJVN Ltd Chairman and Managing Director R N Misra told PTI.

The subsidiary SJVN Arun-3 Power Development Company Pvt Ltd (SAPDC) was incorporated and registered on April 25, 2013 as a private limited company under Nepal's Companies Act.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the project was signed with the Government of Nepal on March 2, 2008.
The project is located in the Sankhuwasabha district of Nepal, 657 km from Kathmandu via Birat Nagar.
The survey licence for generation was issued by Government of Nepal during July 2008. Survey and investigation works were completed in January, 2011.
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Goyal also told reporters that the levelised power tariff for the project will be around Rs 4 per unit and the project will further strengthen ties between India and Nepal.
According to an official statement, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) also gave ex-post facto approval to the implementing agency SAPDC.

The CCEA also said that any component of work already done or being implemented by Nepalese authorities and certified by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) shall be accordingly deducted from the project cost.
The project is located on Arun river in Sankhuwasabha district of Eastern Nepal. The run-of-river scheme envisages about 70 meter high concrete gravity dam and head race tunnel (HRT) of 11.74 km with underground power house containing four generating units of 225 MW each on left bank.
SJVN bagged the project through international competitive bidding. An MoU was signed between Government of Nepal and SJVN Limited for the project in March 2008 for execution on Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis for a period of 30 years, including five years of construction.

The Project Development Agreement (PDA) signed on November 25, 2014, provides 21.9 per cent free power to Nepal for the entire concession period of 25 years. Employment generation for around 3,000 persons is envisaged in construction of the project from both India and Nepal, it said.
The project will provide surplus power to India, strengthening power availability in the country and will also bolster economic linkages with Nepal.
The power from the project shall be exported from Dhalkebar in Nepal to Muzaffarpur in India, it added.